Report: The Lockerbie Bomber is near death

When the Scottish government released Abdel-Baset al-Megrahi in 2009, the only person ever convicted for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988, they did so because they believed he would soon die of cancer.

Al-Megrahi was given a hero's welcome on return to Libya, and is still held in enough esteem there that the Libyan rebel government has said they would not turn him over to any Western government.

Two years after his release, however, al-Megrahi appears to be barely clinging to life, CNN reports.

A news crew for the cable network reported that they visited al-Megrahi in his palatial Tripoli home recently, and "found al-Megrahi...surviving on oxygen and an intravenous drip. The cancer-stricken former Libyan intelligence officer may be the last man alive who knows precisely who in the Libya government authorized the bombing, which killed 270 people."

His son, Khaled, told CNN that nobody is giving them advice on how to handle his palliative care.

Al-Megrahi is one of the few, if not only, people who knows exactly which Libyan government officials were involved in the Lockerbie bombing, and to what degree. His release after serving eight years of a life sentence infuriated the families of many victims, who suspected Britain's real motive was to improve relations with oil-rich Libya.

Al-Megrahi has always maintained his innocence, and has also thus far lived far longer than expected. He made a public appearance with now-fugitive Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi in July, confined to a wheelchair, CNN reports.

A Tripoli neighbor told the Associated Press recently that they have always seen him confined to a wheelchair.